


The Cure for Anything

by Leslie_Knope



Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: First Kiss, First Time, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-23
Updated: 2016-01-23
Packaged: 2018-05-15 19:52:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 969
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5797642
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Leslie_Knope/pseuds/Leslie_Knope
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He’d never forgotten it.</p>
<p>Somewhere, sometime when he was young—at an impressionable age, obviously—he heard the phrase, <em>the cure for anything is salt water</em>.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Cure for Anything

**Author's Note:**

> I _should_ be working on another, longer fic, but this idea wouldn't leave my brain and I spit this out in less than an hour.

He’d never forgotten it.

Somewhere, sometime when he was young—at an impressionable age, obviously—he heard the phrase, _the cure for anything is salt water._

* * *

When he was at the Academy and in the Navy, it was sweat.

He had a lot of feelings when he was 18—troubled feelings about his mom and his dad, confusing feelings about boys and girls—and he wanted to feel exactly none of them. Thankfully, there were lots of opportunities for working out at the Academy, and it turned out that when his muscles were screaming and his heart was pounding, there was no room for anything in his brain but white noise. So he dedicated himself to becoming strong, strong enough that he could control his mind as well as he could his body.

It didn’t hurt that he responded very well to praise, and the Navy liked to heap praise on the strong ones. He felt proud in the choice of his career, even when it was physical hell, because he was _good_ at it. People, important people, realized that, too, so he kept doing it, kept pushing. All the free time he had was spent training, whether it was in the gym, on the track, or in the boxing ring, until the only feeling he had was the sweat dripping down his face.

* * *

When he came home, finally, after all those years, it was the sea.

He had always loved the ocean—it was his favorite part of Hawaii, and it was part of the reason he picked the Navy. But even in the Navy, even as a SEAL, he wasn’t in the ocean all _that_ much. And when he was, he was there for a purpose, generally one that involved helicopters and weapons and enemies. There wasn’t exactly a lot of time for leisurely swims.

So when he came home, the sea was there, the only comforting part of being back in Hawaii and in his childhood home. He still thrived in routine—the Navy beat that into him and he didn’t think it would ever go away—and he never missed his morning swim, ever. Lots of days he even swam more than once, escaping into the sprawling embrace of the ocean when the dark, quiet confines of his house got to be too much.

The rush of warm water over his body let him forget about the terrible and heartbreaking cases that they dealt with, let him ignore the still-confusing feelings about boys and girls, about Danny and Cath. He enjoyed the challenge of the open water, and he always felt better when he stumbled back onto the sand, his mind blissfully empty and scrubbed clean from the waves.

* * *

When Aunt Deb died, it was tears.

Throughout his admittedly-dramatic life, he didn’t cry very much, instead relying on the other forms of salt water for his relief. But this time around, after Mary cried in his arms and he put her and Joanie to bed, he had no desire to go for a run or even get in the water. He was _empty_ , and that feeling led him straight to Danny’s door.

He knocked and swallowed hard when Danny opened it, clearly dressed for bed in a white undershirt and rumpled sleep pants. It must have been showing all over his face because Danny didn’t say anything, didn’t even make a joke about Steve’s red-rimmed eyes. He just pulled him in by the arm, shoved him gently down onto the couch, and hugged him.

And Steve finally let himself cry.

He cried for Deb, her sweet soul and supportive nature, and for what she represented—his mom, his dad, his screwed up childhood, the fact that people whom he loved kept leaving.

But not Danny.

Danny, who was currently pressing kisses to his hair and sweeping one firm hand up and down his back. Steve resisted the urge to suppress _everything_ and instead allowed all of his feelings to flow over him, painful in their reality and oppressive in their volume. It was overwhelming and crushing, these things he couldn’t control, so he clung to Danny tighter and let Danny’s skin soak up some of the tears. Danny pulled him halfway on top of himself, clearly trying to take as much of the burden as he could, and Steve relinquished control as his weight went limp from all the thoughts heavy on his chest.

The tears eventually slowed to a trickle, enough so that he could lift his head and look at Danny. He blinked, clearing his vision to see the familiar blue of Danny’s eyes. His face was tight and pinched—an expression that Steve only recognized from when he was worrying about Grace—and somehow, suddenly, those pesky boy-girl feelings didn’t seem so confusing anymore.

The kiss was salty and wet, scratchy where their stubble scraped against each other, and this time Steve relished the new sensations coursing through him. It was a confusing mix of happiness and despair, but he focused on the good for a few long moments as Danny kissed him back. His hand stilled and slipped under Steve’s shirt, a warm, grounding point of contact that was more calming that he could have thought. Steve tangled his fingers into Danny’s hair, curving his palm around his face. The cheek under his thumb felt a little damp, too, and he wiped the tear away.

Danny pulled back first and pecked him on the nose, his eyes warmer and softer than they were a minute ago. Steve squeezed his eyes shut and felt the last few tears seep out the corners as he shifted onto his side and buried his face in Danny’s neck. He was pretty sure he could let his guard down and just lie here for a bit.


End file.
